Global markets are often vital to a blockbuster’s success, with overseas takings the lifeblood of many major franchises. Of these markets, China is often seen as the most key – as evidenced by Ne Zha 2 climbing to the highest grossing animated movie ever almost entirely through the Chinese domestic box office. But soon, Hollywood movies might be blacklisted from screening in China.
Hollywood Movies Rely On The Chinese Box Office
This was reported by MTKNews, which claims there are six major countermeasures being planned against the tariffs, with China’s commercial might having been a frequent target of Trump’s Presidential campaign and the most decisive factor in his administration’s push for the tariffs. Amongst these are “banning the import of US films into China”, as well as “investigating the intellectual property benefits of US companies operating in China”.
This secondary point is vaguer, but could mean anything from limiting the distribution of video games, television shows, music, and movies from the US, as well as impacting the ability for major US brands to house their factories and stores in the US. While open to interpretation, the idea of banning films from being imported is much clearer.
The other points are increasing tariffs on US agricultural products like soybeans, banning import of US poultry, suspending Sino-US cooperation on fentanyl-related issues, and one listed only as “countermeasures in the service trade sector”
If this comes to pass, it could be a major blow for some of this year’s upcoming movies, leading to a major knock-on effect for the industry. Both Avatar movies made over $200 million in China alone, as did Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, while Avengers: Endgame made $580 million. All these series have new entries coming up, and will be relying on these numbers to make back their sizeable budgets.
